Commercial landlords have hit out at Comet for not admitting the scale of its
financial problems when asking for rent reductions earlier this year.

Landlords who own the 233 stores rented by Comet stand to lose a total of £67m each year if they cannot be re-let, according to research from the CBRE, and have hit out at the electrical chain for not revealing financial details when asking for reductions in rent.

They claim in The Times this morning that it is clear that private equity firm OpCapita, which bought Comet for just £2 earlier this year, had "no sustainable business plan" at the time.

Ed Jenkins, head of retail for Standard Life Investments Real Estate, told The Times: "Comet came to us and many other landlords looking for rent cuts and monthly rents, but we held our line. We did not give them any significant help as they were reluctant to provide certain financial information to support their position. We did change the payment date of the rent to ease cashflow problems.

"If they had adopted an open-book strategy, then we may have been more likely to grant other concessions. We have had situations before where we have given assistance and then had our fingers burnt and it has hardened our resolve. Other landlords did give concessions and they will be out of pocket as a result."

One other head of retail at a listed commercial property company told the newspaper: "I asked them why I should give a rent reduction that was going to go immediately out the door on interest payments and not back in to the business. It was clear the business plan was just not going to work and we felt we would be flushing good money after bad."